THE list of potential next opponents for Anthony Cacace now includes Leigh Wood.
But ‘Leigh-thal’ may have to join the queue as the stock of Belfast’s IBO and IBF super-featherweight champion continues to soar after his comprehensive points win over Josh Warrington at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
However, it seems fight fans will have to wait until next year to see the ‘Andytown Apache’ in action again. Cacace was pencilled in to fight in Saudi Arabia on December 21 on the undercard of the rematch between heavyweights Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, but the head cuts he sustained against Warrington render that unlikely.
The IBF have ruled that Cacace must fight their mandatory challenger Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez by the end of March. The Mexican has a 27-1 record and all 27 of his wins have come inside the distance. A Belfast homecoming for Cacace is in the cards but he has said he would travel to the USA to fight Nunez.
Also on the radar is a match-up with Wood, a man Irish fight fans will know well. The Nottingham native – then WBA featherweight champion - produced a Lazarus-like recovery from the brink of defeat to knockout Michael Conlan in the final round of their pulsating 12-rounder. Wood has moved up to super-feather since beating Josh Warrington late last year.
Also within reach for Cacace is a duel with pound-for-pound superstar Vasiliy Lomachenko. The Ukrainian legend is a three-weight world champion from featherweight to lightweight. He won the IBF lightweight title in May when he beat George Kambosos junior in Perth and Cacace could be in the frame to move up five pounds to 135 and be his mandatory for the first defence of his title.
Arguably the most intriguing and possibly the most lucrative next fight for Cacace is a showdown with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, the current WBA lightweight king. The Baltimore native is 30-0 (28 by stoppage) and is also a three-weight world champion having held belts at super-feather, lightweight and super-lightweight.
Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh, the man behind last weekend’s Wembley spectacular in the Riyadh bill in May when Cacace dethroned then IBF champion Joe Cordina, is a the man who will makes the call.
All Cacace can do is get ready and coach Michael Hawkins senior and the rest of his team will ensure that happens. A delighted Hawkins says there’s better to come from his fighter.
“We’re pleased with the win, we’d have took it before we started,” he said.
“I thought we could have boxed a bit cleaner but Anthony was the first Irish fighter to beat Josh Warrington – he had beaten three in-a-row and the great Carl Frampton is included in that. So to get the win is great, we’d have liked to have boxed a bit better but he (Warrington) was doing a lot of holding and he wasn’t letting Anto get in the short uppercuts and the fancy boxing that he would normally do.
“We had a better performance with Joe Cordina but a win is a win and that’s another world champion we have on our record.”
Cacace dominated the first half of the fight against Warrington and although the ‘Leeds Warrior’ stepped on the gas and made every round competitive, the Belfast native was never in any real trouble, even when slipping on the wet canvas in the final round. He won clearly on the scorecards of all three judges.
“It was doing the simple things well that got him the win he needed,” said Hawkins.
“We’d take that every day of the week against Nunez or whoever comes next. We’ll decide on that collectively, we’ll all have a say, we’ll look at all the options and, as Anto would say: ‘If the money’s right, we’ll go’.”
Cacace has worked hard with his coaches to get into excellent shape. Now 35, he hasn’t had to come through many real wars, certainly not in comparison to his opponent Warrington who looked to be tiring from the ninth round onwards.
Saturday’s fight was physical and gruelling but Cacace’s engine was still going strong at the final bell. He’ll need it to stay in that sort of shape for the challenges ahead.
“We did this with very little hard sparring,” said Hawkins.
“He stood up for it but he’s better than that, there’s better to come from him. Let’s just see what happens now, we’ll take a look at the options. We’ll have a bit of a break, get all the injuries cleared up (Cacace had cuts on his head which need to heal) and we’ll get the post mortem done on this fight and have a fresh look at it all.”
WEMBLEY was amazing on Saturday night. Saudi Arabian investors poured millions into putting on a spectacular show and casual fans had flocked to see Anthony Joshua do a number on Daniel Dubois.
The expected victory would seen ‘AJ’ crowned world champion for the third time and set up another mega-fight against the winner of Usyk-Fury in Riyadh on December 21.
Dubois was the defending champion but, against boxing protocol, he entered the ring first and had to wait while Joshua – lord of the north London manor - strolled around the stadium, making his spectacular entrance amid a dramatic fireworks display.
But away from all the razzmatazz there’s still a ring and a fight between two men and Dubois ripped up the script and stunned the 96,000 at the London stadium by ruthlessly and emphatically blowing Joshua away.
Sport has a way of biting back when arrogance creeps in. It seemed like Joshua made two absolutely fundamental errors: He was over-confident and, secondly, he grossly underestimated his opponent.
You could add another too: He didn’t learn from his mistakes.
A looping right hand sent him down at the end of the first round and he was dropped again in the third. The bell came to his aid on both occasions but Dubois was relentless and he sent him down again in the fourth.
That may have been a half-slip but there was no doubting the coup des grace in the fifth. Joshua seemed to be getting a foothold but he missed with an uppercut, leaving himself totally exposed and a sledgehammer right-hook finished him off.
Dubois (27) proved his worth and the winner of Fury-Usyk is now in his sights.
Meanwhile, can AJ come back from this loss?
On Saturday night’s evidence he should leave it there but he is such a big draw in the boxing business that it will be a surprise if he doesn’t return.
“We had a bad night at the office,” he said afterwards.
“If people want to see me fight, I’ll fight.”